2 x 4 Food Challenge

I’m not into diets. It’s unfortunate that the word diet has become synonymous with dieting, or restricting. It’s a loaded word, that no longer just brings to mind our specific eating patterns. I support my patients as they work toward eating the optimal diet; the goal is for it to become their lifestyle, what they do 80% of the time. The other 15-20% is just details–a piece of cake at a birthday party, an indulgent meal out for an anniversary. When patients come to me and say, “Last Sunday, Father’s Day, I really indulged.” My response is always the same, I say ok, you need to indulge every once in awhile, what I want to know is this, “What did Monday and Tuesday look like? Were you able to fall back into the optimal eating pattern?” I prescribe unlimited fruits, vegetables, and legumes, as part of the optimal eating pattern. Sometimes this can be a little too abstract. So this week I’m undergoing a 2×4 challenge. Every day I’m trying to get this in:

2 cups of vegetables

2 cups of greens

2 cups of fruit

2 cups of legumes

Walking my talk is really important to me, so this week I’m making sure my “unlimited” fruits/veggies/legumes actually meet what I consider to be the gold standard.

Above is what we’re eating this week, my husband Dave is participating too. What you don’t see there is what’s already in the fridge and freezer: a giant watermelon, oranges, frozen peas/corn/spinach, and a big container of baby spinach. Below you’ll see what dinner looked like last night: red lentil stew and a spinach salad. Our cupboard is stocked with dried beans and lentils.

Today is Day 3, and it’s really much easier than I anticipated. I’ll post some more pics later in the week. Want to join us in the 2×4 challenge?

CHRONIC DISEASE REVERSAL

Western medicine technologies – surgical procedures and pharmaceutical agents – only treat the symptoms and complications of chronic diseases, and do not address the root cause of disease. But with improvements in what we eat, how we think, and how we move, many of these diseases can be prevented, arrested, and even reversed.